by Becky Robbins

Created on: July 05, 2009   Last Updated: July 13, 2009

Families were torn apart, some left to forever search for husbands, wives, parents, or siblings. Referred to as Le Grand Drangement by the deportees, 1755 was full of suffering. The deportation of the Acadians changed history forever.

Tension between the French and English was evident since the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, in which the Acadian territory was ceded to the British. As tensions between the French and British intensified, the British became suspicious of the neutral Acadians.

At first, it was enough for the Acadians to swear an oath of neutrality. When Colonel Charles Lawrence took over the governor post, he took a stronger stance. After the beginning of the French and Indian War in 1754, Lawrence made it clear that he would not settle for less than an oath of allegiance to the British.

Once again the Acadians refused to pledge their allegiance to Britain. For Lawrence, this was the last straw. He demanded the Acadians be deported to the 13 British North American colonies, France and Britain. During the deportation process in 1755, the Acadians were rounded up and held on prison ships. These harsh conditions added to the suffering and even led to hundreds of deaths.

Initially, there was a promise that families would not be divided during the relocation process. Whether it was intentional or not, this promise was not kept. This hasty eviction of a large group of peoples was very chaotic. Inevitably, families wound up on ships that went to different locations.

As the Acadians boarded the ships, their homes were destroyed. Over 6,000 Acadian homes were destroyed or given to the Protestant settlers that came through. Some of the Acadians were forced to watch their home burn to the ground as punishment for trying to escape. Their livestock was gathered up and taken away as well. These actions were to discourage the Acadians from trying to return to their former homes.

Thousands of Acadians died before they even made it to their final destination. Besides those who died on the prison ships, hundreds, even thousands more succumbed to diseases. It was not uncommon for a whole ship to suffer from an outbreak of smallpox. Still others were lost to the sea when ships sank.

For those Acadians that made it to the colonies, the welcome was not something to write home about. Some of the colonies turned them away, refusing to let them dock, because they said that Lawrence had not informed the colony of their arrival. Other colonists welcomed the Acadians as slaves or indentured servants.

At the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, and a treaty was signed between the French and the English, the Acadians began the process of relocating once more. Many spent the rest of their lives searching for spouses and children, some never to find them. Some Acadians eventually returned to Nova Scotia to find their homes now belonged to someone else. They resettled in other parts of Nova Scotia where they finished their lives farming, fishing, and building ships. Others preferred a fresh start in other parts of the Americas, such as Louisiana.

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